Samuel Graves

Samuel Graves (17 April 1713-8 March 1787) was an Admiral of the Royal Navy of Great Britain during the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War.

Biography
Samuel Graves was born on 17 April 1713 in Northern Ireland, Great Britain. He joined the Royal Navy in 1732 and took part in the 1741 expedition against Cartagena in the War of Jenkins' Ear. In 1756, he rose to command HMS Duke and served under Edward Hawke during the Seven Years' War, fighting at the Battle of Quiberon Bay and being promoted to Rear Admiral in October 1762. In 1770, he rose to Vice-Admiral and became the commander of the North American Station of the Royal Navy in July 1774, and he enforced the Boston Port Act at the start of the American Revolution. During the American Revolutionary War, Graves was given command of a British fleet off the northeastern coast of the Thirteen Colonies, but on 27 January 1776 Richard Howe took over the fleet from Graves, who returned to England without a command. He rose in the ranks despite not having a command, and on 8 April 1782 he reached the rank of Admiral of the Blue. Graves died on 8 March 1787 in Devon.